L.A. FINDS: BLACK FLAG

Posted on January 9th, by legrandfromage in life, mixtape, music. Comments Off on L.A. FINDS: BLACK FLAG

Now that we’re back from L.A. L.A. Land and almost fully decompressed, I’ll start the new year by sharing some of the stuff I’ve picked up along the way. (Don’t thank me yet. The list I’ve compiled so far includes a dead writer’s collectible and a psychedelic anthem about Chopin’s wife dancing a jig…)

First up: not very rare, but a happy find for me personally: a reisssue of ‘Nervous Breakdown’ by the legendary Black Flag in their most iconic setting, with Keith Morris on vocals. Los Angeles is where Black Flag played their first breakthrough gigs in the beginning of the eighties, so I felt I needed to hunt down some of their work now that found myself in their hometown. ‘Nervous Breakdown’ is their first EP and features two of my favourite Flag anthems ever: “Fix Me” and “Wasted”. Both are short, intense bursts of raw energy, but “Fix Me” has always been at the top of my playlists, thanks to the amazing lyrics.

Someday
I’ll feel no pain
Someday
I won’t have a brain
They’ll take away the part that hurts
And let the rest remain
Fix me
Fix my head
Fix me please, I don’t wanna be dead

Someday
We’ll all be rich
Someday
I won’t listen to you bitch
I’ll turn up the volume
And you can hear all the shit we play just for you
Fix me
Fix my head
Fix me please, I don’t wanna be dead

Someday
I’ll feel no pain
Someday
I won’t have a brain
They’ll take away the part that hurts
And let the rest remain
Fix me
Fix my head
Fix me please, I don’t wanna be dead

Fix it!

I’m not that fond of reissues, normally, but back at home in Brussels, Black Flag vinyls are hard to come by, vintage or no vintage. SST, the reissue’s label is the same one who housed the original pressing (of 300 copies). It is also erstwhile label of Sonic Youth -if I’m not mistaken- and was originally founded by Black Flag mastermind Greg Ginn … so I don’t mind putting money in their pockets. Keeping the original vinyl format (punk songs = short, so vinyl = tiny) is a nice touch, too.

Nothing beats the original version, but Iggy Pop did a fantastic job on the ‘West Memphis Three’ tribute album ‘Rise Above’ in 2002 (check it out, it has Black Flag covers by Ween, The Mars Volta and Motörhead).